System and process for sorting and recovery of recyclable materials from mixed waste

ABSTRACT

A system and process for sorting and recovery of recyclable materials, and in particular, sorting and recovery of recyclable materials from mixed waste comprising municipal solid waste in a materials recovery facility.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit, and priority benefit, of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/772,982, filed Nov. 29, 2018,the disclosure and contents of which are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field of Invention

This invention relates generally to sorting and recovery of recyclablematerials from mixed solid waste in a materials recovery facility (MRF).

2. Description of the Related Art

It is known in the art that a materials recovery facility (MRF,pronounced “murf”) can receive mixed waste comprising municipal solidwaste (MSW) and separate recyclable materials from the mixed wastethrough a combination of manual and mechanical sorting. The sortedrecyclable materials can undergo additional processing required to meettechnical specifications for re-use, while the balance of the mixedwaste can be sent to a disposal facility such as a landfill. However,prior systems and methods are inefficient, time-consuming and expensive.

Improvements to this technology are therefore desired.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosed subjectmatter in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspectsthereof. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of the technologydisclosed herein.

In certain illustrative embodiments, a system and process for sortingand recovering materials from a mixed solid waste stream is provided. Incertain aspects, the solid waste stream can be screened in a primaryscreener to remove all or substantially all materials having a size of12″ or larger or larger from the solid waste stream. The solid wastestream can be screened in a secondary screener to remove all orsubstantially all glass fines having a size of 2″ or smaller from thesolid waste stream. All or substantially all heavier weight materialscan be removed from the solid waste stream. All or substantially allmedium weight materials can be removed from the solid waste stream,wherein the medium weight materials comprise one or more of higherdensity plastics, ferrous/tin cans, and mixed paper, such that the solidwaste stream substantially comprises lighter weight materials, whereinthe lighter weight materials comprise one or more of newspaper sheets,lower density paper and plastic. The solid waste stream can be contactedwith an air stream to remove all or substantially all lower densitypaper and plastic from the solid waste stream. The medium weightmaterials and the lighter weight materials can be recombined to producea recombined solid waste stream. The recombined solid waste stream canbe introduced into a mechanical separator to separate the recombinedsolid waste stream into fines materials, paper materials, and containersmaterials comprising bottles and cans. The containers materials can bepassed under a magnet to remove all or substantially all ferrous metals.The containers materials can be passed through a plurality of eddycurrent separators to remove all or substantially all non-ferrousmetals. The containers materials can be passed through a first opticalsorter to remove all or substantially all polyethylene terephthalate(PET) materials. The containers materials can be passed through a secondoptical sorter to remove all or substantially all high-densitypolyethylene (HDPE) materials. The containers materials can be passedthrough a third optical sorter to remove all or substantially allpolypropylene (PP) materials. In certain aspects, the materials in thesolid waste stream are not shredded during the process. The solid wastestream can be fluffed to reduce the density of the solid waste streamprior to screening the solid waste stream in the primary screener. Therecombined solid waste stream can be divided into a plurality ofrecombined solid waste streams, and wherein each of the plurality ofrecombined solid waste streams is introduced into a mechanicalseparator.

In certain illustrative embodiments, a system and process for sortingand recovering materials from a mixed solid waste stream is provided,wherein the process has a number of sequential steps. In certainaspects, in step (i), the solid waste stream can be screened in aprimary screener to remove all or substantially all materials having asize of 12″ or larger or larger from the solid waste stream. In step(ii), the solid waste stream can be screened in a secondary screener toremove all or substantially all glass fines having a size of 2″ orsmaller from the solid waste stream. In step (iii), all or substantiallyall heavier weight materials can be removed from the solid waste stream.In step (iv), all or substantially all medium weight materials can beremoved from the solid waste stream, wherein the medium weight materialscomprise one or more of higher density plastics, ferrous/tin cans, andmixed paper, such that the solid waste stream substantially compriseslighter weight materials, wherein the lighter weight materials compriseone or more of newspaper sheets, lower density paper and plastic. Instep (v), the solid waste stream can be contacted with an air stream toremove all or substantially all lower density paper and plastic from thesolid waste stream. In step (vi), the medium weight materials and thelighter weight materials can be recombined to produce a recombined solidwaste stream. In step (vii), the recombined solid waste stream can beintroduced into a mechanical separator to separate the recombined solidwaste stream into fines materials, paper materials, and containersmaterials comprising bottles and cans. In step (viii), the containersmaterials can be passed under a magnet to remove all or substantiallyall ferrous metals. In step (ix), the containers materials can be passedthrough a plurality of eddy current separators to remove all orsubstantially all non-ferrous metals. In step (x), the containersmaterials can be passed through a first optical sorter to remove all orsubstantially all polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials. In step(xi), the containers materials can be passed through a second opticalsorter to remove all or substantially all high-density polyethylene(HDPE) materials. In step (xii), the containers materials can be passedthrough a third optical sorter to remove all or substantially allpolypropylene (PP) materials.

In certain aspects, the process can further include the steps of:splitting the solid waste stream into a plurality of solid waste streamsbetween step (i) and step (ii), treating the plurality of solid wastestreams according to steps (ii)-(vii), combining the container materialsresulting from step (vii) for each of the plurality of solid wastestreams to form a single stream of combined container materials, andtreating the single stream of combined container materials according tosteps (vii)-(xii). In certain aspects, the materials in the solid wastestream are not shredded during the process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the presently disclosed subject matter can beobtained when the following detailed description is considered inconjunction with the following drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a process flow diagram for a single stream materials recoveryfacility in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the presentlydisclosed subject matter; and

FIG. 2 is a continuation of the process flow diagram of FIG. 1, inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the presently disclosedsubject matter.

FIG. 3 is a continuation of the process flow diagram of FIG. 2, inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the presently disclosedsubject matter.

FIG. 4 is a continuation of the process flow diagram of FIG. 3, inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the presently disclosedsubject matter.

While certain preferred illustrative embodiments will be describedherein, it will be understood that this description is not intended tolimit the subject matter to those embodiments. On the contrary, it isintended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, asmay be included within the spirit and scope of the subject matter asdefined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The presently disclosed subject matter relates generally to a system andprocess for sorting and recovery of recyclable materials, and inparticular, sorting and recovery of recyclable materials from mixedwaste comprising municipal solid waste in a materials recovery facilityor “MRF.” The subject matter is described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings in which embodiments of thesystem and process are shown. The system and process may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of the system and process to those skilled in theart.

As used herein, the term “municipal solid waste” or “MSW” meansresidential, commercial or industrial waste that includes, but is notlimited to, one or more of the following materials: heavier weightmaterials (i.e., aggregates, glass, textiles, rubber, etc. . . . ),medium weight materials (i.e., fibers and rigid plastics), lighterweight materials (i.e., foam plastics and film plastics), PVC plastics,ferrous and non-ferrous metals, inert residues, organic materials (i.e.,food waste) and very heavy and/or bulky materials. As used herein, theterm “fibers” includes paper and/or cardboard and like materials, andthe term “clean plastics” includes rigid plastics, foam plastics andfilm plastics and like materials.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the presently disclosed subjectmatter utilizes advanced technology and machinery which are integratedinto a multi-step system and process that are designed to treatcontaminated MSW streams to meet or exceed minimum material qualityspecifications while also reducing and minimizing headcount of sorterpersonnel.

Because the mix of materials in MSW can be so varied and unpredictable,it is especially desirable to have a system and process that caneffectively sort and recover desired materials from MSW streams having avariety of material compositions.

An illustrative embodiment of a flow diagram for process 100 withrelated and associated system equipment is shown in FIGS. 1-4 herein,and includes the following stages:

Stage 1:

In certain illustrative embodiments, in-bound solid waste collectionvehicles entering the process facility can discharge their municipalsolid waste (MSW) onto an inbound tipping floor 110. Large bulkycontaminant materials that are readily identifiable such as 2×4 lumbercan be removed by hand or by a material handler such as an excavator ora front-end loader. The raw waste material on the tipping floor can alsobe fluffed by, for example, a front-end loader machine 115 to reduce thedensity. In the front-end loader 115, a loader bucket picks up the rawmaterial and drops it to mix the raw material. The material can then befed into a materials feeder 120. Equipment such as a Drumfeeder™commercially available from Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions may beutilized for this purpose. The materials feeder 120 can have a largerotating drum with cleats that further breaks up clumps of compacted rawmaterial and further fluffs the material into a lower density andtransforms it into a metered, steady stream of liberated materials.These initial steps can allow the raw material to better separate beforethe materials stream progresses through the remaining stages in theprocess 100.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the materials feeder 120 candischarge the material onto a series of conveyers, such as a pitconveyor, and then an incline conveyor which transfers the material ontoa weigh conveyor. The weigh conveyer can be fitted with belt scales or a3D volumetric scanner to continuously weigh/monitor the material beingprocessed. For example, the scanner can scan a cross-sectional view ofthe materials stream and measure or estimate the throughput in, e.g.,tons per hour, to provide users with an estimate of the blend anddensity of materials passing through the process 100.

In certain illustrative embodiments, an OCC (“old corrugated cardboard”)size screen 130 or a more robust C&D screen can be utilized to removeOCC and bulky items (such as rigid plastics and bulky metals) from thematerial stream. For example, the OCC (cardboard) size screen 130 cancomprise elevated star screen removal machinery by which OCC having adesignated size can be automatically removed from the material stream.In certain illustrative embodiments, materials having a size of 12-inchplus, can be removed. Equipment such as an AWS 880 which is commerciallyavailable from Van Dyk Recycling Solutions (manufacturer) can beutilized for this purpose. The screening deck of the size screen 130 caninclude various rotating axles, on which rubber stars are mounted. Thestars can have a diameter of 880 mm, in certain illustrativeembodiments, for purposes of removing material of 12″ or larger. Anexample of a nominal size opening is about 12.3 inches per OCC screen,in certain illustrative embodiments.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the “overs” stream (that is, theremoved materials such as clean cardboard) from size screen 130 can passthrough a quality control (QC) station where film can also be manuallyor automatically extracted and placed into a film vacuum ductwork system132 that discharges plastic film onto the contaminants conveyor forremoval. Also, OCC QC inspectors can manually remove any contaminants134, as well as mixed rigid plastics (e.g., plastic buckets) and bulkymetals that go to a storage bunker, or otherwise the contaminants arethen conveyed to a contaminants conveyor ending at a rejects compactor.

Stage 2:

In certain illustrative embodiments, the remaining raw material of12-inch minus (after passing the OCC size screen 130) can be split intotwo parallel streams in a splitter 140 (or alternatively, remain in asingle stream) and be conveyed to one or more fines screens 150 (alsoreferred to as glass breaker screens) such as are available from CPManufacturing. The fines screens 150 can have metal rotating discs thatare designed to break the glass down to a smaller size, for example, 2inch or smaller, prior to removal.

After falling through the fines screen 150, the glass can be conveyed toa glass processing area which uses a vibrating sizing screen 160 (forexample a double deck screen) and light-heavy density materialseparation 170 (for example, one or more zig zag screens) to clean papershreds and contaminants from the glass before storing the cleaned glassin concrete or steel bunkers.

Stage 3:

In certain illustrative embodiments, raw material (after glass removal)is conveyed to one or more series of successive air separators 160. Theseparators 160 can comprise WalAir™ separators which are commerciallyavailable from Van Dyk Recycling Solutions. The separators 160 can useair blowers and rotating drums to perform light-heavy density materialseparations to split the material into multiple streams having differentdensities.

For example, in certain illustrative embodiments, the higher density,bulky or “heavy” materials (such as dense electronics, small lumber suchas wooden 2×4s, bowling balls, or masonry or other type bricks) can beseparated out and conveyed to a belt magnet 162 to recover and separateferrous metals from remainder residue that is sent down a contaminantsconveyor to a compactor. The second fraction or “medium” materials ismostly containers (e.g., plastics, small ferrous/tin cans, and aluminumas well as UBC and mixed paper, and is sent to one or more rotatingtrommels 170. The overs fraction or “lighter” material (predominantlylight/low density paper along with LDPE film, whole sheets of newspaper,and plastic) from the separators 160 is conveyed to an automatic filmextraction hood and then one or more optical sorters 190 (for example, aTomra Autosort Non-Paper W/Suction 2800 NIR1 High) which automaticallyperform a quality control of the paper and ejects contaminants(non-paper materials) by the use of optical scanning and compressed air.

For example, the optical sorters 190 can set or programmed to recognizebrown cardboard vs. paper, in certain illustrative embodiments. Also,the optical sorters 190 can perform a split of light/heavy density paperfrom the paper stream, whereby airflow is set to select and remove onebut not the other. The paper can be conveyed to a long, slow movingstaging conveyor before being conveyed to the baler. The ejectedcontaminants can be combined with the containers stream headed to therotating trommels 170. In certain illustrative embodiments, the opticalsorters 190 can also use film suction 180 with compressed air andsuction hoods/ductwork to extract the low-density plastic film (such asplastic grocery bags) which is discharged onto the contaminants conveyorheaded to the compactor.

Stage 4:

In certain illustrative embodiments, the stream comprising primarilycontainers and mixed paper materials is then processed through therotating trommels 170 that perform a sizing separation. In theillustrative embodiment of FIG. 2, two trommels 170 are utilized, andthe sizing separation results in three streams/fractions from eachtrommel 170 (six in all—2×3). Separations of 2×4, 2×6 or other desiredsplits could also be utilized depending on the separation needs andavailable equipment of the user. Each of the streams/fractions ofmaterial from the trommels 170 can be conveyed to one or more ballisticseparators 200 that perform three further separations: smallerglass/fines material (which is accumulated and then conveyed to theglass processing line); overs fractions of 2D material (mostly paperwhich is discharged onto optical sorters 210 (such as Tomra AutosortOCC/Containers 2800 NIR1 VIS High) that can perform an automated (i.e.,with humans) quality control of the paper to eject contaminants,containers, and cardboard; and “backs” or 3D fraction of the ballisticseparator 200 consisting of containers (bottles and cans) andcontaminant rejects are gathered together and conveyed to the containerprocessing line for further processing.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the streams ofovers fractions of 2D material emerging from the optical sorters 210 aremerged into a combined stream that is passed through a series of opticalsorters 220, 230 (for example, a Tomra Autosort Paper 2000 NIR1 VIS Highand a Tomra Autosort OCC 2800 NIR1 VIS High) to recover conveyedcardboard, which is delivered to meet with cardboard separated in Stage3 above, and to recover conveyed paper, which is delivered to meet with2D paper in Stage 4 above from ballistic separators 200, while theremaining stream is delivered to a back end of the system (see FIG. 4)for further processing.

Stage 5:

In certain illustrative embodiments, a magnet 240 (such as a rotatingdrum magnet) can be utilized to remove ferrous material that is thenconveyed to a storage container.

Stage 6:

In certain illustrative embodiments, the material that passes by themagnet 240 is sent to one or more eddy current separators 250 which useeddy current fields to eject non-ferrous metals material (mostlyaluminum cans). For example, rare earth magnets can be utilized. In anillustrative embodiment where two in-line eddy current separators 250 aand 250 b are utilized, as shown in FIG. 4, the second separator 250 bperforms a quality control of the ejected stream from the firstseparator 250 a, to provide additional “fine-tuning” before thenon-ferrous metal is conveyed to a dedicated non-ferrous baler or canalso be conveyed or pneumatically blown via ductwork to a storagecontainer.

Stage 7:

In certain illustrative embodiments, the remainders from the eddycurrent separators 250 can be conveyed to an optical sorter 260 (such asa Tomra Autosort) designed to remove any residual paper from thematerial stream. The ejected paper can be conveyed to meet with thepaper stream from the above Stage 4 from ballistic separators 200.

Stage 8:

In certain illustrative embodiments, the pass material from the aboveoptical sorter 260 of Stage 7 can be conveyed to a PET optical sorter270, such as a Tomra Autosort PET 2800 NIR1 High, which ejects PET(polyethylene terephthalate) plastics material such as polyesters,thermoformed sheets, strapping, and soft drink bottles. The PET materialis run through a second quality control optical sorter 280 (such as aTomra Autosort 3-Track 2800 NIR1 High) to remove any contaminants beforebeing discharged in a slow-moving staging conveyor and then baled.

Pass material from the PET optical sorter 270 can be conveyed to an HDPEoptical sorter 290, such as a Tomra Autosort HDPE 2000 NIR1 High, whichejects HDPE (high-density polyethylene) plastics material such asbottles, grocery bags, milk jugs, recycling bins, agricultural pipe,base cups, car stops, playground equipment, and plastic lumber. The HDPEmaterial can also be run through the second quality control opticalsorter 280 to remove any contaminants before being discharged in astaging conveyor and then baled.

Pass material from the HDPE optical sorter 290 can be conveyed to a PPoptical sorter 300, such as a Tomra Autosort PP 2000 NIR1 High, whichejects PP (polypropylene plastics) material such as auto parts,industrial fibers, food containers, and dishware. The PP material canalso be run through the second quality control optical sorter 280 toremove any contaminants before being discharged in a staging conveyorand then baled.

Thus, in certain illustrative embodiments, the process and system isspecifically designed to identify and recover plastics #1 (PET), plastic#2 (HDPE), and plastic #5 (PP) according to recognized plastic recyclingcodes.

Pass material from the PP optical sorter 300 is mostly contaminantsand/or reject material but before being sent to a compactor, thematerial can be conveyed to a residue recovery optical sorter 310 (suchas a Tomra Autosort Recovery 2000 NIR1 VIS High) designed to eject outany residual recyclables to be discharged and conveyed back to thebeginning stages of the system for another chance of being recovered.

Stage 9:

In certain illustrative embodiments, the remaining residue/rejectsmaterial can be removed from the site as “trash” 320 via compactor box,compactor trailer, or loose-load, while the various recovered materialsor “commodities” can be prepared for shipment by either the use ofbaling, loose-loading, or via roll-off container.

The system and process described herein may include a plurality ofsequential, non-sequential, or sequence independent steps or stagesusing, for example, the systems and equipment shown or described herein.Note that the process shown in FIGS. 1-4 is exemplary, and may beperformed in different orders and/or sequences as dictated or permittedby the system and equipment described herein, and any alternativeembodiments thereof, unless a particular ordering is otherwisespecifically indicated in an embodiment set forth herein.

In addition, the processes described herein are not limited to thespecific use of the system and equipment described herein but may beperformed using any system and equipment that is capable of operating asdescribed in connection with the processes shown in the figures.Numerous arrangements of the various stages, techniques, equipment andmaterials can be utilized. In addition, not all stages, techniques,equipment and materials described herein need be utilized in allembodiments.

It should be noted that certain particular arrangements of equipmentand/or process steps for the system and process described herein arematerially distinguishable from, and provide distinct advantages over,previously known technologies, as described in further detail herein.The system and process described herein also displays certain unexpectedand surprising results.

For example, existing material recovery facilities typically utilizemultiple human sorters to separate materials or provide a qualitycontrol check for the material streams. The number of human sorters in atypical MRF usually is related the material quality specification thatthe MRF is aiming to achieve as well as what automated technology isused, and is also related to the amount of material residue in theinbound material (i.e., how dirty is the incoming recycling stream). Incertain illustrative embodiments, it has been found that the system andprocess described herein is expected to require a significantly reducednumber of sorters, if any, in order to achieve the desired materialquality specifications.

Also, in certain illustrative embodiments, the presently disclosedsystem and process uses two sequential eddy current separators tocapture non-ferrous materials. Normally a sorter would be used forquality control of the aluminum output from only a single eddy currentseparator.

Also, existing MRFs typically utilize a “presort” station to sort outbulky metals, bulky plastics or rejects that could potentially harm thesystem equipment. By comparison, the presently disclosed system andprocess is designed so that no presort is needed, in certainillustrative embodiments, due to the use of an oversized initial sizescreen 130 (the 880 screen) and the use of the air separation units 160to extract out the “heavies” materials.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the presently disclosed system andprocess utilizes optical sorters for quality control of paper from theballistic separators 200, whereas typically paper is quality controlledby sorters.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the presently disclosed system andprocess can utilize multiple and sequential optical sorters 270, 280,290, 300 to capture plastics such as PET, HDPE, and PP. For example, aninitial optical sorter can be used to first eject the plastic product,and then the resulting stream can be conveyed to a second optical sorterwhich is used to perform the quality control that otherwise would occurat a manual sorter. See, e.g., FIG. 4.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the presently disclosed system andprocess does not utilize any shredders or otherwise shred the solidwaste material stream. The commodities can be separated from thematerials stream in their whole form (such as a whole plastic bottle ora whole sheet of newspaper), except for whole glass which is broken downto smaller pieces via the vibrating sizing screen 160 and thelight-heavy density material separation 170, rather than to separate acommingled shredded stream of material.

In certain illustrative embodiments, the presently disclosed system andprocess can produce commodity materials at the following percentcompositions and tonnages per hour without any shredding occurring,although the results will be variable depending on what type andcomposition of material stream is brought into the system and processfrom the customers:

TABLE 1 Material Percentage (%) Tons Per Hour at 66 tph OCC 21.5 14.2ONP 12.13 8.0 MP 33.63 22.2 UBC 0.75 0.5 tin 1.36 0.9 PET 2.11 1.4HDPE-Nat 0.50 0.3 HDPE-Pig 0.68 0.4 1-7 Plastic 0.36 0.2 Scrap Steel0.68 0.4 Glass 17.33 11.4 Residue (T&D) 8.90 5.9 (may be much higher)Totals 100.0 66

It is to be understood that the described subject matter is not limitedto the exact details of construction, operation, exact materials, orillustrative embodiments shown and described, as modifications andequivalents will be apparent to one skilled in the art. Accordingly, thesubject matter is therefore to be limited only by the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for sorting and recovering materialsfrom a mixed solid waste stream, the process comprising: screening thesolid waste stream in a primary screener to remove all or substantiallyall materials having a size of 12″ or larger or larger from the solidwaste stream; screening the solid waste stream in a secondary screenerto remove all or substantially all glass fines having a size of 2″ orsmaller from the solid waste stream; removing all or substantially allheavier weight materials from the solid waste stream; removing all orsubstantially all medium weight materials from the solid waste stream,wherein the medium weight materials comprise one or more of higherdensity plastics, ferrous/tin cans, and mixed paper, such that the solidwaste stream substantially comprises lighter weight materials, whereinthe lighter weight materials comprise one or more of newspaper sheets,lower density paper and plastic; contacting the solid waste stream withan air stream to remove all or substantially all lower density paper andplastic from the solid waste stream; recombining the medium weightmaterials and the lighter weight materials to produce a recombined solidwaste stream; introducing the recombined solid waste stream into amechanical separator and separating the recombined solid waste streaminto fines materials, paper materials, and containers materialscomprising bottles and cans; passing the containers materials under amagnet to remove all or substantially all ferrous metals; passing thecontainers materials through a plurality of eddy current separators toremove all or substantially all non-ferrous metals; passing thecontainers materials though a first optical sorter to remove all orsubstantially all polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials; passingthe containers materials though a second optical sorter to remove all orsubstantially all high-density polyethylene (HDPE) materials; andpassing the containers materials though a third optical sorter to removeall or substantially all polypropylene (PP) materials.
 2. The process ofclaim 1, wherein the materials in the solid waste stream are notshredded during the process.
 3. The process of claim 1, furthercomprising fluffing the solid waste stream to reduce the density of thesolid waste stream prior to screening the solid waste stream in theprimary screener.
 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the recombinedsolid waste stream is divided into a plurality of recombined solid wastestreams, and wherein each of the plurality of recombined solid wastestreams is introduced into a mechanical separator.
 5. A process forsorting and recovering materials from a mixed solid waste stream, theprocess comprising the steps of: screening the solid waste stream in aprimary screener to remove all or substantially all materials having asize of 12″ or larger from the solid waste stream; (ii) screening thesolid waste stream in a secondary screener to remove all orsubstantially all glass fines having a size of 2″ or smaller from thesolid waste stream; (iii) removing all or substantially all heavierweight materials from the solid waste stream; (iv) removing all orsubstantially all medium weight materials from the solid waste stream,wherein the medium weight materials comprise one or more of higherdensity plastics, ferrous/tin cans, and mixed paper, such that the solidwaste stream substantially comprises lighter weight materials, whereinthe lighter weight materials comprise one or more of newspaper sheets,lower density paper and plastic; (v) contacting the solid waste streamwith a compressed air stream to remove all or substantially allmaterials low density paper and plastic from the solid waste stream;(vi) recombining the medium weight materials and the lighter weightmaterials to produce a recombined solid waste stream; (vii) introducingthe recombined solid waste stream into a mechanical separator andseparating the recombined solid waste stream into fines materials, papermaterials, and containers materials comprising bottles and cans; (viii)passing the containers materials under a magnet to remove all orsubstantially all ferrous metals; (ix) passing the containers materialsthrough a plurality of eddy current separators to remove all orsubstantially all non-ferrous metals; (x) passing the containersmaterials though a first optical sorter to remove all or substantiallyall polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials; (xi) passing thecontainers materials though a second optical sorter to remove all orsubstantially all high-density polyethylene (HPET) materials; and (xii)passing the containers materials though a third optical sorter to removeall or substantially all polypropylene (PP) materials.
 6. The process ofclaim 5, further comprising the steps of: splitting the solid wastestream into a plurality of solid waste streams between step (i) and step(ii); treating the plurality of solid waste streams according to steps(ii)-(vii); combining the container materials resulting from step (vii)for each of the plurality of solid waste streams to form a single streamof combined container materials; and treating the single stream ofcombined container materials according to steps (vii)-(xii).
 7. Theprocess of claim 5, wherein the materials in the solid waste stream arenot shredded during the process.